Round And About.

a jovial party of old friends ; and if M . de Falbe was the onh diplomatist recognised , the House of Commons was represented by ' Mr . Solicitor' ( in full racing costume ) , Sir William Marriott , Mr . John Aird , and Mr . Maclure ; while the Bench contributed Mr . Justice Lopes . The Duke of Edinburgh ( apparently much stronger ) was the first to put in an appearance , and the Princess of Wales

and her daughters defied the dust and heat in fawn-coloured cloaks . In spite of the abnormally crowded state of the line , the journey was accomplished in thirty-one minutes . "

" They say , " remarked a lady to me the other evening , " that the Shah and his suite left Buckingham Palace in a very dirty state at the termination of their previous visit ; " and her little girl of seven summers chimed in with , " Then they found it sweet and left it sour , " and laughed at her own smartness . Gilbert ' s " Singular Anomalies " will not diminish in numbers as years go by .

Mr . Andrew Pears has taken Stonor Park , Lord Camoy ' s place near Henley , for several years . The rent is high , but the park is beautifully wooded , and there is plenty of small shooting . * * * It is but a very few years since Mr . Pears started on that

gigantic enterprise of covering the earth's surface with advertisements of his particular soap , and already the golden harvest is in the hands of the reapers . This department of the business was placed in the hands of Mr . Thomas Barratt , the London partner , and the first year ' s operations were limited to an expenditure of

^" 2 , 000 . Never , perhaps , were ^" 2 , 000 more judiciously invested , for the advertising contracts of the present year have amounted to no less a sum than , £ " 150 , 000 , and the firm is still anxious for new worlds to conquer .

* * * Mr . Pears was initiated in the Etonian Lodge of St . John ( 209 ) , Windsor , in November , 1873 , and occupied the chair in 1 SS 2 . He lives in The Grove , Isleworth—a somewhat defunct locality , very much overgrown with weeds and decaying villas . But he has purchased

the mansion and grounds of Squire Davis , opposite the Spring Grove Station on the South-Western Railway , about a mile past the historic Zion Manor-house , the Isleworth place of the Dukes of Northumberland . The grounds are being restored and laid out anew , but the mansion is to be pulled down and replaced by a modern structure . * * - : ¦ <¦

A contemporary much given to very decided opinions on many very disagreeable matters , makes a suggestion that a string hand should be placed in the vestibule of Burlington House , so that picture-hunters may knock away a little of the boredom attached to a scramble through the " bleak and comfortless series of barns

in which our chief picture-show is yearly housed . " The galleries may be bleak and comfortless in a measure , but yet they possess all the distinction of carefully-constructed and suitable apartments , with the one exception of size . They are not nearly large enough , and therefore give no impression . Now , if Mr . Norman Shaw would

put a little colour on the walls of his half-buried refreshment saloonthe plastic enrichments of which would greatly aid colour decoration—a deal of warmth and feeling might help the digestion of the buns and tea-cakes which form a great portion of the " refreshment " indulged in by the feminine frequenters of the Academy . * * *

The fact of it is , we get too much for our shilling . The superficial area of the hanging space is limited , and the superficial area of the accepted pictures is limited also , so that the area of the latter may about equal the area of the former . Here is the bane of English picture-painting . Could the Academicians be content to show us not more than five hundred canvases a year , and hang each

one so that it might be separately studied and admired , a deal of gratification and an infinite amount of instruction would be got out of an Academy ramble . Some attempt at classification should also

be made , so that a delicate piece of work brimful of refinement and thought should not be murdered by a bold and daring canvas that chance had hung beside it . » - > - * As far as hanging goes , the Academy may learn a deal from the enterprising New Gallery . There are enough pictures on

its walls to satisfy the greediest of picture-gazers , but why doesn't Mr . Halle" stick to management and leave exhibiting alone ? And why was not Sargent ' s " Ellen Terry" placed on an easel by itself in the central pavilion , or given a room where its amazing audacity of colour and execution could not ruin its neighbours ? Keeley Halswell ' s " Early Moon-rise" ( 83 ) , in the west room of this exhibition , is very little short of a masterpiece .

* * * To return to Piccadilly , the unfortunate Architectural Room is a species of ante-chamber where goddesses adjust their shoelaces and old ladies surreptitiously devour the enviable sandwich . " What are all these drawings ? " asked a sweet little maiden once

in my hearing ; and the eldest son of a City millionaire , who is a professed admirer of the Arts , remarked that they were " pictures of houses , and churches , and schools , and all those kind of things . " The young gentleman is perhaps related to that gilded youth who , as his country uncle was drawing his carving-knife through a

delicious Sunday wether leg , remarked that wherever he dined they always seemed to have pork . " And what do you think this is ? " queried the blunt old man . "I dunno , " replied the nephew , " but it looks like a pig's head . "

* * -it-Sir Arthur Blomfteld , A . R . A ., has done some fine work in his time , and deserves the distinction of knighthood . He is architect to the Bank of England , and boldly stuck up a Classic building beside poor Street's masterpiece at the corner of Bell-yard . He is doing the enlargements at Eton , has previously come into close

connection with the Royal laying of foundation-stones , and is the son of the late Bishop Blomfield . But wiiere is Alfred Waterhouse , R . A ., the leading man of the profession in the kingdom ? and Norman Shaw , R . A ., the revivalist of Queen Anne , and who is ( Norman Shaw , not Queen Anne ) erroneously credited with the

conception of Bedford Park ? Poor Norman Shaw ! Poor Queen Anne ! ! and Mr . John Pearson , R . A ., the restorer of Westminster Abbey , and the finest Gothicist of his da }'? This reminds me that the cloistered screen to Westminster Hall is practically completed , and that the heraldic finials of the interior staircases , which provided

Mir . Plunket with that smart retort for Sir George Campbell in the House the other day , may be seen by the public . There is no question but what Sir Charles Barry ' s complete scheme for St . Stephen ' s was the right and proper one after all , and failing this , some modification of it by his son , who is possessed of all the necessary

data and sketches . Mr . Pearson has , however , carried out his own ideas faithfully and well , and there are hundreds of competent judges who will applaud his work .

* * * Both Sir Arthur and Mr . Pearson were passive members of that Committee which endeavoured some time ago to rouse the City Corporation into action over the Temple Bar stones , and partially succeeded , though not in inducing the Temple lawyers to find a

home for them . Augustus Sala , who waxed warm over the movement , and declared he would like to grind the inoffensive pieces into powder and fling them into the Thames , has never sent me the promised tracing of the Roman facade from which Sir Christopher " stole the idea of the attic story . " Perhaps he has

forgotten , or has been satisfied that the great Tottenham Courtroad brewer has " wasted " , £ " 3 , 000 in re-erecting the old Bar at Waltham . But I should still like the tracing .

* * * It was a beautiful sight to watch a Thames boatman and his assistant the other afternoon , inducing Lord Churchill to purchase